I Made it Myself...

I have been trying to figure out my next post would be about when I read Cheryl Waters' (Founding/Lead Fiskateer #002) blog today. She wrote “Now I’m looking for a discounted ‘Clip It Up’. I’ve tried bidding on E-bay but no success yet on a deal. Any suggestions? It’s definitely something I could use.”

Well, I was like Cheryl. I wanted a ‘Clip It Up’ but didn’t want to spend all that money. I did some Google searches and found a few sites that gave me some ideas on how to make one.

Paulien van den Bosch led me to Shayla’s Creations. Both gave me great ideas. I also found a YouTube video by margaretcrafts. She has a supply list on her I Love Crafting blog. I had to do some legwork to gather all the supplies.

First I ordered the washer top lampshade wire rings from www.lampshade.com. They cost around $2 - $2.50. I think you could order all the supplies from them, but I am a visual and hands on person.

So next I visited my local hardware store. I love this store because they have people that actually offer to help you and they know their business. I bought the 36” threaded rod, hex nuts, washers, lock washers and a simple little finial from them. All those supplies were under $10.

And last, I bought a lovely lamp base from our local Lamp Factory Outlet. They had a large variety of bases to choose from. This was the most expensive part. I treated myself and picked one that I really liked. It was under twenty dollars. You could save money by reusing an old lamp, but note, not all lamps have the same parts.

It was fairly easy to put this all together. The only tools I used were two pair of pliers. I am planning on spraying the metal parts black (only because that is my preference). Oh – what about the clips? I found clips by Darice on the JoAnn’s website. I got them on sale for $2.39 for 21 clips. They are perfect. That sure beats 25 for $7.
7Gypsies has a version of this that they use for a Photo Display, so don’t limit yourself!

I have an old floor lamp that I was going to give away, but I decided to keep it and try to make a floor version. I am partway through that process and will post another blog when that one is done.

Have a lovely day!

Finally another post! Pumpkin Dip and a really cute jar...

Back in September I read a great blog on JustRite’s site by their guest blogger, Barb Schram. It is titled Pumpkin Dip. I was really excited because I had just ordered the Autumn Blessings Set from JustRite, so I couldn’t wait to try it.




I thought this would be a great project to demonstrate at our church’s Harvest Fest. I knew that I had a scheduling conflict and would not be able to be at the event, but I found a group of girlfriends that were willing to do the demo and class. We decided to get together and make the recipe and some samples of the jars for their class.


Well, first off, the dip is fabulous! It is very easy to make. We tasted it with ginger snaps and apples. The ginger snaps are pretty good with it, but the apples (I used Fuji) were fabulous! It was a taste of fall delight! The next day I brought some to the office to share and we tried it with Nilla Wafers – another good choice.


Then, the jars – they are just so cute. I had a hard time finding them locally (I guess it is a little late for canning season) so I ordered them online from Goodman’s. Ours project is a little different from Barbs. For the top we used the middle two sizes of the Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Small Circles set. We put a patterned circle behind the off white circle that we stamped with the pumpkin. After trying markers and colored pencils we decided the pencils were a better choice for the class. Then we used a stamp from the JustRite Recipe Set border that reads “Made with Love” and we used their small letter set to add “PUMPKIN DIP” in the center. We stamped that on a little pumpkin. Both the pumpkin and the tag were punched from Sizzix originals.

The plan for Harvest Fest is to demonstrate how to make the dip and to have some samples to taste and a recipe handout. There will also be a class on making the lid topper and the tag. That way you can make them and take the take them home and put one together for a special friend. I am sending mine to my mother-in-law with a batch of the dip.

I have to add that I was shamed into doing this post. When my sister found out that I had a blog she wanted to know the site. She is a very dedicated blogger and has a great site. I was embarrassed to tell her because I have only had one post and that was a month ago. I promised that I would do a post about this great little project, and as I am typing this I see that she just sent me an email asking where the post is.

Thanks for visiting!
Donna
PS What have you thanked God for today?